Guest Columnist: Success demands that actions speak louder than words

One of the most unfortunate axioms to enter usage in the English language is, in my opinion, "Easier said than done."

Tim McCausland

One of the most unfortunate axioms to enter usage in the English language is, in my opinion, "Easier said than done."

The problem with this phrase is that often enough, the thing that might be more difficult to achieve than it is to discuss is actually the best result for the people doing the talking.

In business, successful owners — shareholders, LLC members, partners, etc. — are generally guided by enlightened self-interest to direct companies in a manner that achieves the best result for stakeholders, whether or not the endeavor is initially deemed easy or difficult.

Working for a company as I do, my overarching duty is to promote value for company shareholders — value being defined by a stock price and/or dividend payout.

To deliver under the obligations placed on my fellow employees and me, shareholders rightly care little whether the road to success is easy or difficult. That's the way it should be, by the way, because businesses that thrive distinguish themselves by working harder than the competition.

People like John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison all came from nothing to create — through hard work — the American middle class.

While no one will shy away from the fact that greed and other chicanery played a role in the success of some of these men, they nonetheless helped create the framework for the vast creation of wealth in this country far beyond their own respective fortunes.

And they were all, simply, incredible doers.

As Americans face the uncertainty that comes with our collective approach toward the "fiscal cliff," we hear and read variations of "Easier said than done" from our federal leaders when it comes to measures that might lighten or eliminate the pain that will come from a fall over the cliff.

Unlike the leaders of a corporation — who have a legal duty to look out for the best interests of all shareholders — our political leaders in Washington have become allergic to the idea of getting things done on behalf of all their constituents, not just the ones who vote for them.

Talk is easier than actually doing something. And action, even if it is objectively the right thing to do for America, might upset the political apple cart.

Being a doer involves a certain amount of bravery — bravery to face risks, ridicule and misfortune.

Dozens of neutral economists have declared America has the necessary economy, natural resources and human capital (especially intellectual) to carry us through the current economic downturn and effectively deal with the tax code and other programs to avert the fiscal cliff, but still, politicians simply talk.

When they do act, it will not likely be a brave result that benefits America as a whole, but only a partial solution that benefits select groups.

The famous industrialists had their warts, but they were wildly courageous, sovereign unto themselves and acutely aware of the fact that actions speak louder than words — and that being a doer is never easy.

We need more doers in America.

Tim McCausland is a trust and business development officer with the Orange County Trust Co., He can be reached at tmccausland@orangecountytrust.com.